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"We had four of our frontline and most experienced forwards out and one of our main backline players was out too. We were very under-strength and Varsity were just awesome. It's as simple as that."

Reflecting on the hiding, Mr Collie said they went into the game knowing it was going to be extremely difficult to win.

"We hoped [to do better] ... but once Varsity got on a roll the wheels just fell off completely and there was just no stopping them."

He said the match was very difficult to watch and he viewed most of the home game through parted fingers.

And after Zingari Richmond conceded the equivalent of more than 19 converted tries without a single point in response, the referee apparently felt sorry for them and blew the final whistle after just 70 minutes to put them out of their misery.

Mr Collie said that was a relief for all involved. "I think it would be fair to say that neither side got anything out of that game. There was no point in continuing because it was just a waste of time.

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"The guys are very disappointed, let's be honest. These are young guys who didn't want to get beaten like that.

"They trained hard, knew it was going to be difficult but they went out on the field and gave their absolute best but I'm afraid their best simply wasn't good enough." But there were no hard feelings between the two clubs after the drubbing and the victors were invited back to the losers' clubrooms for a pint and a chat.

And the club vowed to not let the result get them down, Mr Collie said.

"What we have to do now is quite simple - we have to ... get to training on Tuesday night and get stuck into it - and we have to perform a lot better next week."